TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

Support the Transportation and Climate Initiative
J. Michael Atherton, Ph.D.
Feb 2020


Americans pride ourselves on our problem-solving skills. We strive to have the best research and development centers in the world. The TCI supports this drive by reminding America that the world wants us to develop technology to improve transportation, safety, health, congestion, jobs and do it on a scale that makes a difference in the lives of the public. The TCI addresses the important issue of scale by taking a regional perspective.

The TCI calls for innovators to step up and make something that makes a difference. If we solve transportation problems, then not only will America improve everyone’s lives, it will make a nice profit. But, and this is a big “but”, America must grasp this opportunity now. We must stop tinkering with outdated technology and look to the future. If we fail to grab this innovation opportunity, then other countries will do it for us. Many perfectly capable, well-financed, high technology countries want to steal our lead. If that happens, then America will sit back and watch the future be taken from our hands. Do we want the world to thank Chinese technology for decongesting our urban centers? Do we want French, English, or German designers to make transit-friendly projects that reduce transit needs and offer viable options to driving? What if a combined Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese team lowers the costs for large freight transportation while cleaning its emissions? We should feel happy if anyone solves these problems, but we would feel happier if the USA did it.

We must ask who might oppose the TCI and why. Following the money seems to indicate that large corporations have the most to lose if states unify their efforts under a regional TCI. The reason is simple, when the TCI works it will cut into their profits. The region will not have to go cap-in-hand to the corporations when it solves its own problems. Unfortunately and unnecessarily corporate opposition to the TCI represents self-centered, short-term, and unproductive thinking. Such Luddites want us to tinker with their old technology so they insure all efforts funnel through them. They would not only bemoan foreign countries beating us to the innovation punch, they would also oppose regions or municipalities innovating us out of our problems. They take the divide and conquer approach. If they force isolated innovators to focus on small issues, then corporate lawyers and lobbyists can overwhelm them and make them accept corporate control. Corporations ultimately want their technology to solve what they see as a problem so they alone profit. Parochial viewpoints and solving last century’s problems with outdated thinking will fail. We can do better.

The TCI unleashes the collective thinking power of 12 highly educated and motivated states and the District of Columbia. That, by itself, dwarfs most corporate capabilities. State boundaries often interfere with problem solving, so the TCI offers a regional perspective. Since climate change, for example, ignore boundaries, so should climate innovators. Regional thinking has a distinct advantage over local-only thinking. When this powerful group sets about solving its regional problems, they will inevitably solve problems for people beyond their borders. The TCI is designed to promote this cornucopia of benefits. The TCI’s unbounded approach offers a multiplier effect for individual efforts.

For example, if you reduce vehicular pollution, at the same time, you improve public health. Mitigate climate change and you employ millions of people in rewarding jobs that will generate even more jobs. Safe, clean, cheap, and reliable transportation protects our physical well-being, it saves us time and never tests our patience, and it is light on our pocketbook. All these things accrue from solving our nagging transportation problems. The myriad spin-off discoveries that will arise from the TCI make it a gift that keeps on giving. The TCI will unlock such a volume of invention, production, and sustained activity that the rest of the nation and even other nations will send legions of people to study our example.

We should picture the goals of the TCI as equivalent to the moon landing. Call it the New England-Mid Atlantic-DC (NEMADC) based moon program. Like the moon shot it should inspire young people to dream about it and then stick around so they can contribute to this regional effort. The NEMADC moon shot offers such earthly benefits as clean air, healthy jobs, and safe, reliable, and low-cost transportation. The TCI cooperative problem-solving will design transportation to side-step congestion, to deliver us safely to our destination in a timely fashion, and to minimize travel frustrations. Our region has the management ingenuity and technical power already in place. The TCI allows us to look beyond borders so we can see a living matrix fully prepared for success.

We stand ready to take the initiative.

Public transportation and more paths for biking and walking will reduce our health care costs. It will also increase happiness, as science now confirms.

Our organization asks TCI states, including Pennsylvania, to design a regional low-carbon transportation policy proposal that would cap and reduce carbon emissions from the combustion of transportation fuels through a cap-and-invest program or other pricing mechanism… [and]… to complete the policy development process within one year, after which each jurisdiction will decide whether to adopt it.

Please join the plan to reduce transportation emissions. Please take action on the climate crisis now, before it's too late. We are all breathing harmful chemicals from transportation vehicles every day. This is reflected in the increase in poor health across all age groups.
Please institute strong programs that invest in public transportation, biking, walking, and prioritize equity.

Retired here in south western Pennsylvania which has some of the dirtiest air in the country. I worked for the Air Pollution Control Bureau back in the early seventies and attended Duquesne University on an EPA Fellowship earning a MS in chemisty. We had poor air quality then and still have poor air quality. I would like to think that we have better air quality fifty years later but that doesn't seem to be the case. I have two grown children that are both asthmatic, most likely to the poor air quality when they were growing up. The general health of most citizens here in western Pennsylvania could be better if the air quality would improve.

Alarming evidence demands urgent action to reduce carbon emissions. A meaningful and comprehensive carbon reduction plan must address a wide variety of transportation modes, penalize excessive emissions and reward low/no emission transportation initiatives.

Increase public awareness and encourage wider cooperation.

Support effective carbon sequestration technologies and require implementation of same.

We must act promptly to overcome this global threat.